Photo Courtesy Alberta Teachers' Association

By Jayson Taylor

President of the Alberta Teachers’ Association calls for collaboration with Smith government

May 31, 2023 | 9:40 AM

EDMONTON – The Alberta Teachers’ Association says its ready to work with Danielle Smith and the United Conservative Party government. The president of the Alberta Teachers’ Association, Jason Schilling, released a statement late Tuesday evening.

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In the statement, he says hard work needs to start immediately to better support students in Alberta and continue to bolster the public education system.

“With this election behind us, we now need to get going on the hard work needed to better support students and ensure that out public education system, which serves 93 percent of the province’s students, continues to be one of the best in the world,” Schilling said in a statement Tuesday evening.

Schilling notes that collaboration from the government is key in continuing to help strengthen the relationship between teachers and government. He says four key issues that need to be addressed:

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• Addressing the systemic issue of class size, complexity and support for students with special learning needs.
• Per-student funding currently being the lowest in the country.
• Teacher recruitment and retention issues need to be addressed as soon as possible.
• The fundamental concerns that teachers have about the new curriculum.

Schilling said he looks forward to working with the Smith government on addressing these issues and hopes the relationship between teachers and the government can be strengthened going forward.